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f  This  Part  G>ntains  Eight 
f  Pages. 


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f  PART  FIVE. 

f  This  Part  Contains  Eight 
r  Pages. 


MAKCTI  2(> 


DECORATIONS  FOR  STATe  ONIVERSlTy  blRRARU 


Four  Coinposilion  Subjects  Cho¬ 
sen  to  Typify  the  Four 
Principal  Colleges  of 
the  University. 


Artist  Wells,  Selected  to 
the  Frescoes  for  the  I 
tunda.  Has  About  Com¬ 
pleted  His  Work. 


nV5E5 


R  NI-;\VTON  A-  \VELI.S  Is  now  ul 
work  painting  tho  frescoes  In  the 


•  itL-d  at  Urbana.  The  work  was 
r<«'ariic<l  upon  competition  about  a  year  and 
a  half  ago.  the  committee  eclccling  Mr. 
Welts'  dcHlgns  as  being  the  moat  decorative 
iind  l-•pecialty  adapted  to  the  object  fer 
which  they  were  designed. 

Vhe  noceasary  data,  plans,  and  elevations, 
architect's  specincatlons,  etc.,  were  fur- 
iilshcsl  him.  and  In  due  time  small  designs  In 
water  color  were  sent  on,  upon  which  a 
favorable  decisltm  was  pnssrd,  and  Mr. 
Wells  at  once  set  to  work  In  his  Purls  atelier 
to  evolve  the  wurking  drawings  of  the  four 
great  frescoes  Included  in  the  commission. 

The  frescoes  are  to  be  placed  on  the  upper 
walls  of  ibo  rotunda,  which  Is  entered  after 
passing  the  vestibule  and  olT  which  uro  the 
reading-room  and  stackruom  The  rotunda 
la  oblong  and  iho  panels,  which  form  a  sort 
of  frieze,  are  of  two  lengths;  two  will  be 
37^  and  the  othet  two  lH’t..  feet  long,  and 
each  about  12  feet  In  height,  the  ilgurcs  In 
the  composition  to  be  life  size. 

POUR  SUBJECTS. 

The  lour  composition  subjects  chosen  will 
typify  the  four  principal  colleges  of  the 
universUy,  literature  and  arts,  agriculture, 
engineering,  and  science.  '-The  Sacred 
Wood  of  the  Muzes  "  Is  the  title  of  the  hr-it 
compoilllon.  It  Is  a  classical  subject,  con- 
talnlng  about  twenty-five  figures,  reiireaent- 
Ing  philosophy,  poetry,  music,  and  art.  The 
studies  for  the  landscape  for  this  work  were 
made  In  the  garden  of  the  Luxembourg  and 
St  \  ersallles.  The  scene  represents  the 
classic  age  and  I'l.ito,  Homer.  Aristotle,  and 
others  are  grouped,  each  with  hla  followers, 
who  are  earnestly  learning  the  lessons  ex¬ 
pounded  by  their  worthy  ninaters. 

To  represent  agriculture  .Mr.  tVells  ha* 
composed  a  pron-^lonal  c.alkd  "Arcadia.  " 
which  Is  treated  also  from  the  clnralc.il 
standpoint,  the  Hgure  being  In  the  old  Ureek 
coslumo.  Tho  picture  typines  the  return  of 
the  harv'oatcn  at  the  close  of  day.  the  nr«i 
fruits,  so  to  spe.ik,  of  tho  harvest  season. 
Domestic  animals  are  also  Introduced.  The 
ptor  -Bional  Is  also  typical  of  the  different 
stages  of  life.  On  the  extreme  left  are  two 
small  children  In  the  lead,  and  closely  fol¬ 
lowing  are  a  young  woman  and  her  lover 
bearing  garlands  of  vine  and  clusters  of 
purple  grapes. 


nihERVA 


LABORATORY 


l  AMUUb  MODELS. 


FORGE 


VULRAN 


The  fresco  entitled.  "  The  Sacred  Wood  of 
the  Muses."  lenow  nesrtrg  completion,  and 
Mr  M'ells  expects  to  finish  Merles  during 
the  course  of  the  year.  It  '  •  xpeeted  that 
the  four  Urge  working  drawings  will  be 
shown  at  the  comlngexhlb'tlOB  of  the  Arch> 
tectural  club,  wbtcb  ■  ;  »r.s  at  the  Art  In- 
l  stitute 

Mr.  Wells  ta  a  pupil  of  Be-Jimte  Constmr" 
and  Jean  Raul  Laurens  and  was  working  In 
the  Aesdemle  Jullen  at  the  same  time  as 
the  Lyr  '-cker  brother*,  now  we"  known 
In  art  circles  For  several  years  Mr  Wei:« 
was  an  an  r.si rhetor  In  an  Eastern  - 
but  feeling  that  he  could  do  •'methlee 
better  than  spend  hi*  entire  life  ir.  c  school¬ 
room  he  resigned  hi*  position ,  we-  ..  New¬ 
port  ard  ci-.-ed  a  etud!.-.  -  *  i-  the  end  of  a 
year  went  abr-- ‘  stsytrg  about  three 
years.  It  wa»  while  study;,  abroad  that 
he  learned  of  the  comp.-:"'--  for  the  dec¬ 
orations  of  the  State  I'nlverslij's  library, 
and  this  Is  h'..£  first  Imporlsn!  work  of  the 
kind  since  his  return 

Mr.  Well*  Is  a  man  of  education  and 
culture,  and  the  university  has  secured  his 
service*  for  a  course  of  lecture*  upon  the 
history  of  paining  to  be  given  during  the 


ind  for  the  Hat  three 
sibiter  at  tbe  Paris 


Columbisn  Exposition 
years  has  been  sn  e 

Salon. 


of  tbe  UDlvisDiUy.  They  entain  over  e.vn 
volumes  and  13.uju  pampteu.  These  includ  - 
ISO  series  of  perlodtcals. 

Tho  instltutloc  was  Incorporated  under  the 
name  of  the  nilocla  Industrial  University 
on  the  2S:h  day  of  February,  tr^.  and  placed 
under  tbe  coctrol  of  a  Board  of  Trustees. 
eonoUtuted  of  the  Governor,  the  Suprrtn- 
tendent  of  Public  Insrueilon.  and  the  Pres¬ 
ident  of  the  State  Board  of  Agriculture  os 
ex-offle;.-.  members,  and  tweniy-elgbt  citi¬ 
zens  appointed  by  the  Governor  The  chief 
executive  ofBcer.  usually  -ailed  Prestdesc 
was  styled  Regent  and  be  sra*  made  ex- 
ofllciy  a  member  of  '.ti  .rsrd  sod  presiding 
oSleer  of  tbe  Board  of  Trustees  sod  of  the 
faculty. 

In  1873  the  Board  Of  Trusteea  was  reor¬ 
ganized  by  tbe  reduction  of  the  number  of 
appointed  members  to  nine  and  of  the  ex- 
olB;lo  members  to  two— tbe  Governor  and  tbe 
President  of  State  Board  of  Agriculture.  In 
1887  a  law  was  possedmaklng  memberahlp 
of  tbe  board  elective,  and  rertcrlng  the 
Superintendent  of  PubUe  Instruction  ss  an 
ex-oAcl»  member.  There  ore  now  three  ex- 
oSclo  member*— tbe  Governor  Superln- 


IL  STOCKED. 


LIBRARY  IS  W 


ing  of  tht*  Interior  woa  mode  at  C)c\-eland. 
where  Is  located  one  of  (be  lorgcwt  stom 
hammers  In  the  country. 

PRELIMINARY  WORK. 

Th  '  »k  to  prepare  these  viudies  I*  by  no 
■"  IndUferrnt  or.r.  The  drawlr.gf 
_  J  ‘  ‘  .  wh'ch  were  made  In  Paris  (or 

th-  purrc:--.  --.vered  a  space  of  six  months' 
cl  --  npplirailon  xnd  sn  outlay  of  more 
'ban  E-  h.  subject  required  erpeclal 

me  th;  -•  ••?£  being  In  the  mojorlt) 
of  .  flr«  m»  ‘  from  the  r.ud 
thin  diwpery  nr  an  absolutely 

correct  drawing  of  the  araiomy. 

One  not  Inilmale  with  the  methods  of  pre¬ 
paring  a  *«t  of  working  drawings  for  such 
a  task  has  no  conception  of  the  amount  of 
work  Involved  In  the  first  place,  the  pl- 
lure  I*  drawn  to  get  the  -ismpoiUlon.  Then 
the  figures  are  posed  and  tbe  details  worked 
out.  A  study  must  then  be  made  for  the 


Facilities  (or  Sttid7 
bat  Will  Be  Gr 
Lat 


•re  Excellent  Now, 
itly  Improved 


Tbe  university  was  opened  to  studenlz  on 
March  2.  1^9'.  Instruction  being  given  in 
algebra,  geomrir.,.  physics,  history,  rhe¬ 
toric.  and  Lsv-  At  ;s  •  'ime  worker,  — - 
fsm  sed  garden-  or  thebulldlfg 

was  ompulsory  for  siudeots.  but  the 
fo”crr-ng  year  compulsory  labor  waa  dls- 
costlnued  save  where  made  a  part  of  cIom 
iBstrueUon  Is  the  autumn  of  I*ei8  a  cher 
teal  laboratory  was  fitted  up  and  pracUc  . 
work  began.  A  botaolcs’  'sboralory  was  Ir.- 
irodweed  the  foHowIng  year.  In  Jarfcary 
1870  a  DO’ab>  advance  In  Isstructtoa  ws 
made  by  the  fltdeg  op  of  a  temporary  m- 
chaslcaJ  shop  with  tccTs  aadmacblnery.  and 
te  «*.*•  little  strtseture.  orlglaolly  built  for  a 
eart»er.t«r  ship,  was  begua  the  first  shop  Irv- 
etructl-n  la  os  American  oalverslty.  In 
tbe  cummer  of  1871  a  large  brick  bulldlBg. 
tbe  prese.-.’.  earfaeerieg  laboratory,  was 


The  Ifbrary  that  wt. 
•lecomtloax  had.  only  . 

volumes  aad  d.330  : 
tion  baa  been  selected 
literary  and  setenUfic 
•ewerat  course- 
The  large  library  b. 
the  day  for  Mody,  r . 
work.  On  (he  same  ij 
the  reading-room  of  tb{ 
plied  with  dally  pap*' 
portani  weekly  and 
both  literary  and  scSen  I 
buDding  will  soon  enti 
offer  Its  members  grc.l 
faclIliJes. 

The  library  of  tbe  £ 


.  be  adorned  by  these 
.  few  months  ago.  30.- 
kmpleta.  The  coUec- 
i  with  reference  to  the 
ludles  required  In  the 


:  la  open  throughooi 
I  .ding,  and  reference 

f'  or  oa  the  library*  Is 
university,  well  sup- 
i  and  the  more  (m- 
loathly  periodicals. 


!  Sc.  Thenewlibrary 
ii  l«  the  unlveialty  to 
■  '  Jy  Increased  Uhrary 


a  diploma  of  merit  was  awarded  the  exhibi¬ 
tion  from  this  department. 

The  trustees,  on  March  0.  1870.  admitted 

I  •  ••.  c.i.t  r-.i?e  -V  .  -hey 

I  have  comnliuted  about  one-fifth  of  tho  total 
number  In  attendance.  In  1877  tho  Legis¬ 
lature  gave  the  university  authority  to  con¬ 
fer  degrees.  In  IMkfi,  upon  rrqurst  of  Iho 
alumni,  faculty,  und  trustees,  tho  Legis¬ 
lature  changed  tho  name  of  the  Institution 
to  the  "  University  of  Illinois."  At  ihlsacs- 
slon  of  the  General  Assembly  a  mmsure  w  as 
passed  transferring  the  State  Luhoratcry 
of  Natural  History  from  tho  Illinois  State 
Normal  University  to  tho  University  of  Il¬ 
linois.  This  labor,aiory  was  treated  for  tho 
purpose  of  making  a  natural  history  survey 
of  the  State,  for  which  appropriations  are 
mado  from  time  to  time. 

By  an  act  of  CongroM  of  March.  1887  the 
national  government  uppruprlalrd  |I2  raxi 
per  Annum  to  each  State  for  the  purpuse  of 
establishing  and  maintaining.  In  connection 
with  tho  colleges  founded  upon  tho  Con¬ 
gressional  act  of  IMS.  agricultural  experi¬ 
ment  stutions,  ”  to  aid  In  acquiring  und 
diffusing  among  the  people  of  the  United 
States  useful  and  practical  Information  on 
subjects  connected  wKh  agriculture,  and  to 
promote  sclentlflc  Investigation  and  experi¬ 
ment  respecting  (he  principles  and  applica¬ 
tions  of  agricultural  science."  Under  this 
provision  tho  agricultural  station  for  Illi¬ 
nois  was  placed  under  tho  direction  of  tho 
trustees  of  the  unlverolty,  and  Its  ground# 
were  located  on  the  university  farm.  Bui¬ 
ld  Ins  are  lasucd  as  often  ae  once  every  threo 
months  and  distributed  gratuitously. 

For  the  more  complete  endowment  of  the 
Slate  Institutions  founded  under  (he  act  of 
Congress  of  IWti,  the  United  States  govern¬ 
ment.  by  a  supplementary  act  passed  In 
lsis>.  made  furth-r  appropriations  Undir 
this  enactment  each  such  college  or  univer¬ 
sity  received  tho  first  year  ♦l.'l.issi;  the  sec¬ 
ond.  3M.<sxi  and  thcrrafierfl  isriperannum 
additional  to  (he  amount  of  the  preceding 
year  This  annual  Increase  is  to  continue 
until  the  amount  reaches  the  sum  of  |3S.- 
0i»,  which  Is  (hen  to  be  paid  yearly  (hero- 
after.  The  total  appropriations  by  the  Stato 
of  Illinois  to  the  university  for  all  tiutposes 
to  date  amount  to  llJSUa.wii. 


